Rail-fastening clip



Sept. 8, 1953 MYER 2,651,469

RAIL-FASTENING CLIP Filed NOV. 15, 1949 INVENTOR. 16 14 M0,.vepLMyer.

a .34 10 ATTORNEY.

Patented Sept. 8, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RAIL-FASTENING CLIP Moses L. Myer, University City, Mo.

Application November 15, 1949, Serial No. 127,299

12 Claims. (01. 238349) j as rail-fastening clips of the type disclosed in Patent No. 2,353,353, issued July 11, 1944.

The prime object of the present invention is the provision of a very simple, inexpensive but highly effective rail-fastening clip adapted to securely hold the base of a rail against the rail supporting structure in such a way that it will prevent both lateral as well as longitudinal movement of the rail in respect to such structure.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a rail-fastening clip which is made of resilient material and which is adapted to be deformable by impact, and when thus deformed to forcefully engage the rail under constant, powerful tension, thereby effectively counteracting the rails tendency of changing its position relative to its support.

A further object of this invention is the provision of readily attachable and as readily removable resilient rail-fastening clips which will securely, but yieldably anchor the rail to its supporting structure.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a resilient rail-fastening clip which is constructed of standard, rolled material having a standard, uniform cross section and which standard clip material corresponds to and is applicable foruse in connection with apertures provided in standard rail tie plates for the accom- .modatin of railroad spikes, whereby the applicasimple expedient of forcibly driving the clip into "a spike hole of such tie plate, and by so doing, partly deforming the clip and thereby causing a forceful engagement of the lower outer face of the clip with the outer wall of the spike hole in the tie plate, and at the same time causing a forceful and permanently tensional engagement .between the end face of the upper clip portion and the rail base, the interior face of the lower clip and also serving, in conjunction with the rail seating lip of the tie plate, as a lateral stop against movement of the rail base.

A still more specific object of the present invention is the provision of a rail-fastening clip comprising a substantially J-shaped clip structure, adapted for use in inverted position, and which clip structure is formed from a standard, squarecross-sectional steel rod, which is heat treated in such a way that its curved portion is made resilient and is thus rendered deformable under the influence of force, such as a sharp impact, whereby its curvature may become flexed but which flexed portion will revert to its originally curved shape when force is released, and wherein the straight-linear portion of the inverted J-shaped clip is serrated at its lower exterior end and which serrated portion of the clip is specifically hardened, such as by induction or flamehardening, so that these serrations will resist deformation and will forcibly imbed themselves in metal of lesser hardness, such as the outer wall of a tie plate hole.

The foregoing and still further objects and important advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the ensuing description, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and wherein:

Fig. l is a plan view, partly in cross section, of a rail, a tie plate and the rail-fastening clip;

Fig. 2 is a section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1 with the clip shown in elevation preparatory to engaging the tie plate and the rail base;

Fig. 3 is a similar cross section to that shown in Fig. 2 with the rail-fastening clip in its railholding position;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the rail-fastening clip in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 5 is a section taken along line 5-5 of Fig. 4; and

Figs. '6, 7, 8 and 9 illustrate additional shapes of rail-fastening clips.

As is well-known in railroad construction and railroad maintenance, railsare subject to various strains and stresses caused by heavy rolling stock moving over the rails. These stresses have the tendency of loosening the rails from their supports and causing them to spread, creep, tilt or shift in many other ways in respect to their supports.

In order to minimize such undesirable movements of the rails due to impact of rolling equipment, numerous devices have been developed for fastening the rails to their supports, for instance tie plates and rail ties upon which the tie plates rest. Such devices proved to be either too expensive or too complicated for ready adaptation by carriers, but in some instances were inadequate, impractical or entirely useless for their intended functions.

The present invention is designed to not only provide a really effective and practical railfastening clip, which may be handled by unskilled labor, but also to produce the same at such a low price that it may be readily adapted by carriers without materially increasing the cost per rail mileage over present-day rail-fastening methods.

A very important advantage of the present device is the readiness with which it may be applied and set, and the easiness at which it may be removed from its rail-holding position.

In the drawings numeral 10 denotes a standard tie plate which is usually provided with two pairs of outer spike holes II, and two pairs of inner spike holes i2, the latter being preferably placed in line with either one or two spaced railbase retaining lips l3. Resting between the lips upon the tie plate is the base Id of a rail.

As is well-known, the tie plate is usually secured by means of rail spikes to the rail ties. Such rail spikes are preferably passed through outer holes H. Additional rail spikes are placed in inner holes I2 to prevent lateral shifting and other movement of the rail in respect to the plate.

From Figs. 2 and 3 it will be observed that the interior tie plate holes l2 extend with their interior wall portions somewhat below the edges of rail base [4, as may be plainly seen at the right-hand ends of these figures at 15. The railfastening clip itself, shown in Figs. 4 and 5 and in detail at IS, comprises a resilient body made from standard, single ply square stock of uniform cross section and resembling an inverted letter J. Its upper portion IT is bent upon itself into a semi-loop and terminates in a relatively straight, fiat rail-base engaging face. Forming a continuation of the curved upper portion is a straight-linear portion 18, which latter is provided along its lower outer face with a plurality of teeth or serrations l9. That serrated portion and its immediately adjacent area, indicated in broken lines at I9 is preferably hardened, such as by induction or flame-hardening, so that the serrations will be suniciently hard, strong and durable to assure their effective intended use and re-use for long periods of time of cutting into and anchoring in the outer wall of tie plate opening l2.

The curved upper portion of the clip is heat treated to render it sufliciently resilient and at the same time adequately stiff so that it may be temporarily deformed under severe impact, and, while thus deformed, exert the desired amount of force to securely hold'a rail against its support. The deformed curved portion is designed to revert to its original shape when stress is released.

Application Instead of employing several railroad spikes in holes I2 for holding the rail in place against the tie plate, only a single clip of the present construction is required to be placed in one of the holes to adequately secure the rail in position upon plate I0.

The clip, as shown in Fig. 2, is first placed into one of the holes by hand so that its lower and passes to within a short distance from the bottom face of the plate. It will be noted at the right-hand end of Fig. 2 at 20, that while clip [6 is in that position, the edge of rail base It is somewhat spaced from the face of the righthand rail-retaining lip l3 of the plate.

When the clip is thus placed into hole 12, a

sharp blow with a spike maul in the direction shown, by arrow I in Fig. 3, will cause the clip to pass with its straight-linear end fully into hole [2, whereby its teeth or serrations 19 will cut into the outer wall of the hole and anchor themselves therein, while at the same time the upper curved end of the clip becomes deformed and its end face engages the upper surface of rail base I-fi under severe tension.

As clip I6 is driven into place it also engages the left-hand face of rail base 14 and forces the right-hand face of the base against the face of right-hand retaining lip l3 of the plate, as clearly seen in Fig. 3.

, When in its final position, clip i6 forcibly unites the rail base with the plate and therefore not only checks lateral movement of the rail in respect to the plate, but also prevents, clue to the forceful engagement of the plate and of the rail, what is known as creeping, that is the longitudinal movement of the rail in respect to its support.

Removal of the clip As easily as the clip is secured in place, and thereby not only holds down the rail base but prevents the rail from shifting in any direction, the removal of the clip is just as simple. By a sharp blow with a spike maul in the direction indicated by arrow II, the serrations [9 of the clip are readily dislodged from their grip of the outer wall hole, and due to its reassuming of its original shape, predicated upon the resiliency of the clip material, the clip becomes automatically disengaged and can now be removed without difiiculty. Obviously, the clip may be reused many times in the same manner as described above.

As will be noted from Fig. 5, the cross section of the clip is preferably square. Comparing the clip body with the peripheral dimension of the holes in the tie plates, it will be observed that the size of the clip body substantially corresponds to but is somewhat smaller than the size of the holes in the tie plate, in order to permit the ready insertion of the clip. However, the difference in size is preferably very slight to provide a fairly good fit of the clip body within the hole, thus assuring, when the clip is driven home, a forcible engagement of its serrated portions with the outer wall of the hole. That forcible positioning also facilitates the retention of the clip in its flexed, distorted position, whereby a forceful tensional engagement of the rail base by the clip is maintained.

In producing a clip of the required resiliency and strength, a relatively low carbon steel of say .6? to .80% carbon, .70 to 1.0 manganese with a maximum of .04 of phosphorus and a maximum of .10 to .23 silicon has been found satisfactory. The clip is hard-tempered to approximately 43 Rockwell, while the toothed or serrated portion is hardened either by the induction method or by flame hardening.

As a result of tests conducted with the clip, the latter will not release the rail at pressures substantially above 2,000 pounds, whereas the maximum holding strength required by railroad engineers is only 800 pounds.

Obviously any other ferrous or non-ferrous metal composition of the required physical properties may be employed.

Inasmuch as both the clip material as well as the construction of the clip is very simple and inexpensive, and due to the fact that only a single rail-fastening clip is required for each Modifications The foregoing description deals more or less with the clip design illustrated in Fig. 4, however, the shape and construction of that device may be modified, depending upon its intended application and specific requirements.

Thus in Figs. 6 to 9 four different clip shapes are presented. The clip design shown in Fig. 6 at l6 has its upper rail-engaging end rendered somewhat more resilient than clip l6 ofFig. 4 in that the connecting portion 2|, between the relatively broad, upwardly curved rail-engaging arm 22 and its serrated depending end 23, is slightly reduced in thickness or flattened. The lower clip end, however, is intended to correspond to the dimension of any of the holes 12 in the tie plate.

Fig. '7 illustrates a clip design l6" similar to that shown in Fig. 6, except that rail-base-engaging arm 24 is substantially duckbill-shaped clip end 25 by a reduced neck portion 26. Also this modified form of the clip possesses a somewhat higher resiliency than clip [6 of Fig. 4.

Clip H6 disclosed in Fig. 8 is of a substantially L-shaped design with a rounded nose 2! for engagement with the base of a rail. The upper, relatively straight end 28 is intended, when forcibly deformed, to shape itself along the contour of the upper surface of the rail base as the lower, serrated end 29 is driven into the hole of the tie plate. lhe body of clip H6 will resist deformation to a greater extent than any of the other clips illustrated, and its removal for reuse is also more difficult. Nevertheless, its application under certain specific conditions is definitely indicated, in spite of the preference given to what may be termed arched clips of the type shown in Figs. 4, 6, '7 and 9. Serrated lower end 29 of clip H6 again corresponds in size to the size of holes [2 in the tie plate.

The fourth modification of a rail-fastening clip is illustrated at H6 in Fig. 9. That clip structure presents a slight departure from the aforedescribed clip shapes in that its upper, subother clips illustrated. However, the forceful removal of the clip design shown in Fig. 9 is much easier than that of all other clips.

It will be noted that in all of the modified clip forms presented in Figs. 6 to 9 the tie plate structures are also indicated in order to show the relationship between the bodies of the lower clip elements and the holes provided in the tie plates before the clips are driven home.

Re'sum All of the clip structures shown and described .are composed of rail-base-engaging elements or arms forming the upper clip ends, and rail-supand is connected with depending, serrated lower 6 port-engaging elements or lower clip ends, 'de pending from the upper clip ends, and being provided with anchoring means at their outer surface for securely and forcefully engaging the outer Walls of the holes or receptacles provided in the rail supports.

The upper clip ends are off-set relative to the lower, depending clip ends and are designed "to extend a substantial distance over the top rail base surface. All clips are deformable bysimpact and are adapted to retain their deformed shapes as long as they remain subjected to the influence of the restraining force. Such restraining force is produced when the clips are driven with their depending ends into the holes of tie, plates and with their outer serrated faces into positive anchoring engagement with the outer walls of the tie plate holes, and their bodies are wedged with their interior faces against the edge of the rail base, whereby the rail base'is forced against lip l3 of the tie plate. As the depending clip ends are thus driven into place, the upper clip elements become deformed in longitudinal direction of their bodies.

Since the lower clip ends are rendered immovable relative to the tie plates and the rail base edge, when the clips are fully driven home, the upper clip elements are thus forcibly held in their deformed shapes and in turn hold the rail base under forceful tension.

Due to the resiliency of the clip material, the upper clip elements will re-assume their erstwhile shapes the moment they are relieved of the force holding them in deformed position, that is, when the clips are dislodged in the manner indicated by arrow II in Fig. 3; thus the clips may be re-used time and again.

In order to render the clips effective for their intended purpose, the serrations provided at the outer faces of their lower or depending ends must assure secure and non-loosening anchorage in the plate material, and the clips are driven in sufiiciently to engage the rail base in the manner nidicated. Such results can not be attained unless the dimensions of the tie plate engaging ends of all clips substantially conform to the shape and dimensions of the tie plate holes. When the clips are fully driven home, that is, to their final, desired rail-holding position, the bottom faces of the depending ends become either aligned or substantially aligned with the undersurface of the tie plates, but never protrudes below that undersurface, as clearly seen in Fig. 3.

While the foregoing description defines the instant invention in its presently preferred embodiments, it is quite obvious that changes'and improvements may be incorporated thereinwithout departing from the scope and spirit thereof, as defined in the annexed claims.

- What is claimed as new is:

1. In a device for the purpose indicated, a single ply resilient body of substantially a, square, uniform cross section throughout its length and comprising a curved portion bent upon itself to form substantially a semi-loop, and a relatively straight-linear portion forming a continuation of the curved portion and being provided along its lower outer face with means for forcibly engaging the outer wall of a tie plate hole, said curved portion being forcibly distortablein substantially a longitudinal direction, that is from the straight-linear portion of the device toward the end of its curved portion.

2. In a rail-fastening c1ip, a single ply resilient 7 body of substantially a square, uniform cross section throughout its entire length and comprising, when positioned for its intended use, a forcibly distortable upper curved portion bent upon it self to form a semi-loop, the latter terminating in a substantially straight end face, and a relatively straight-linear portion depending from and constituting a continuation of the curved portion, the lower outer face of the depending portion having means for forcibly engaging the outer wall of a substantially square hole in a tie plate, and its interior face being adapted to forcibly engage the edge of a rail base, while the upper curved portion, in its forcibly distorted form, is intended to tensionally engage with its end face the upper surface of a rail base resting upon such tie plate.

3. In a rail-fastening clip, a single ply resilient body of substantially a square cross section throughout its entire length and comprising, when applied for its intended use, a forcibly distortable upper curved portion bent upon itself to a semi-loop, and substantially corresponding to the curved end of an inverted letter J and terminating in a substantially straight-faced end, and a straight-linear portion depending from the curved portion, the inner face and the side faces of said depending portion being relatively smooth for engagement with the edge of a rail base to prevent lateral rail movement,

while its outer lower face portion is serrated and hardened, that serrated outer face portion being adapted to forcibly engage the outer wall of a substantially square hole in a tie plate supporting a rail, while the straight-faced end of the upper curved portion, when the latter is in its forcibly distorted form, tensionally and securely engages the upper surface of the rail base against movement.

4. The combination with a rail and a rail-supporting mounting provided with a substantially square opening adjacent the edge of the rail base, of a rail-fastening clip for clamping the rail to the mounting, said clip comprising a single ply resilient body of substantially a square cross section substantially corresponding in size to that of the square opening in the mounting, said clip body constituting a substantially J- shaped formation adapted to be applied in inverted position and comprising a forcibly distortable upper curved portion terminating in a substantially straight-faced end for engagement with the top surface of a rail base, and a depending straight-linear portion adapted for placement into the opening of the mounting, the outer lower end surface of said depending portion being serrated and hardened and being adapted to securely engage the outer wall of the mounting opening when forcibly driven thereinto, its interior face being smooth for engaging the edge of the rail base, while the end of the upper curved portion is simultaneously caused to draw the rail base with progressive power against and to prevent its movement in respect to the mounting as that curved portion becomes more and more distorted by the force which drives the depending portion into engagement with the outer wall of the opening in the mounting and with the edge of the rail base.

5. The combination with a rail and its support, of a clip adapted for holding the rail under forceful tension against the rail support and comprising a single ply resilient body having an upper, forcibly deformable rail-engaging end and a lower, support-engaging end, depending from the upper end, said upper end being off-set relative to the lower end, and terminating in a fiat face for engaging the base of the rail, said lower end having serrations arranged at'its lower exterior face portion for securely anchoring that lower end of the clip in the outer wall of an opening provided in the material of the support as the upper clip end is being deformed for a progressive, tensional engagement of the rail base, the opening in the support corresponding in shape and size to that of the lower clip end and being substantially square, the body of the clip being of a uniform, substantially square cross section throughout its entire length.

6. A rail-fastening clip comprising a one-piece, single ply resilient clip structure of uniform cross section, having an arched, deformable upper railengaging element terminating in a substantially fiat, rail-base engaging face and a lower element, depending from the arched element, and intended for anchoring engagement with a railsupporting tie plate, the outer surface of the lower element being provided with serrations for engagement with the outer wall of a substantially square tie plate hole, the bottom end of the lower element being substantially aligned with and does not extend below the undersurface of the tie plate when the clip is in its final, rail-holding position, the upper clip element being so constructed that its rail-base engaging face comes into an increasingly forceful contact with the rail base when its arched end becomes deformed as the lower clip element is being driven into place, the body of the clip being of substantially a square cross section throughout its length.

'7. The combination with a rail and a tie plate provided with clip-receiving apertures, of a onepiece, single ply, resilient clip, comprising an upper, deformable curved portion terminating in a rail-engaging end for forcefully and tensionally engaging the upper face of the rail base, and a depending portion for insertion into one of the tie plate apertures, said depending portion substantially corresponding in size and shape to that of the aperture into which it is to be inserted, the exterior face of the depending clip portion being serrated for forceful engagement with the outer wall of the aperture, its interior face being relatively smooth and being adapted for forceful engagement with the edge of the rail base, when the clip is fully driven home, the bottom end of the depending clip portion then bein substantially aligned with and does not protrude below the undersurface of the tie plate.

8. A clip structure for the purpose indicated, comprising a single ply, one-piece body having an upper, forcibly deformable, substantially downwardly curved upper portion having a railengaging end, and a relatively short lower portion, depending from the upper portion; said end of the upper portion being adapted, when forcefully deformed, to tensionally engage the upper surface of the rail, the depending lower portion substantially corresponding in shape and size to that of a tie plate aperture; the exterior face of the lower portion being serrated for forceful anchorage in the outer wall of such plate aperture; its inner face being smooth and being adapted to forcibly engage the edge of a rail base when the clip is fully driven home, that lower clip portion being relatively short so that its bottom end will not protrude beyond the undersurface of the tie plate with which the clip is associated.

9. A clip stucture as in claim 8, the upper clip portion being substantially L-shaped.

10. A clip structure as in claim 8, the upper clip portion being substantially duckbill-shaped.

11. A clip structure as per claim 8, the upper, deformable clip portion being substantially L- shaped and that part of the clip connecting its 5 upper portion with its lower portion being reduced for greater resiliency.

12. A clip structure as in claim 8, the upper clip portion being substantially duckbill-shaped, its lower portion terminating in a hook forma- 10 tion.

MOSES L. MYER.

Number Name Date Amundson Aug. 17, 1915 Knell Apr. 7, 1925 Macneir Aug. 11, 1931 Kurkowski Nov. 22, 1932 Dalton Nov. 6, 1934 Armstrong Dec. 7, 1937 Woodings Mar. 14, 1939 Myer July 11, 1944 

